The stories behind the buildings, statues and other points of interest that make Manhattan fascinating.

Thursday, April 17, 2014

The Chester A. Arthur Statue -- Madison Square

On November 18, 1886 Chester A. Arthur died in his beloved home on Lexington Avenue. He had became the 21st
President of the United States when James A. Garfield was assassinated five
years earlier. Within six months of his death a committee had been formed
to erect a statue of the former President.Interestingly enough, the statue being discussed was intended “to
distinguish his grave in the Rural Cemetery near Albany,” as explained by The
Sun on May 7, 1887.

At the first meeting, held in the Chamber of Commerce, “It
was then voted that not more than $10,000 should be expended for this purpose,” according to the newspaper.But by the time of
the next meeting, just a few weeks later on May 6, The Sun said “Already more
money had been offered than was needed, and many gentlemen who had not been
present at the first meeting were anxious to contribute.”

With an excess of funds and many other wealthy citizens
eager to contribute to a memorial, a second committee was chosen “to take such
other action as might be necessary to erect a statue of Arthur in this City.”Empowered with the influx of funds, committee
president Cornelius Bliss estimated the group could spent three times as much
on the New York City statue as it put aside for the Albany monument.The New-York Tribune reported on May 7 “The
statue, it is expected, will cost about $30,000.”

As funds poured in, the committee selected Ephraiam Keyser as
its sculptor.Five long years later the
nine-foot high clay model of the statue was ready for exhibition.“The former President is represented in the act
of speaking at a Cabinet meeting,” reported the New-York Tribune on April 13,
1892.“He has a document folded in his
left hand, which is hanging by his side.He has just taken off his glasses and is making a gesture with them in
his right hand.The likeness is said to
be excellent, and the pose easy and dignified.”

The New York Times added, “The figure is erect, the
shoulders are thrown back, and one foot is thrust ahead of the other.The Prince Albert coat is buttoned close to
the figure, the right arm is bent at right angles at the elbow, and the fingers
toy with the eyeglasses…The bared head is thrown slightly backward, and the
eyes gaze out on an ascending plane.”

On February 9, 1893 The Sun printed a depiction of the Keyser statue (copyright expired)

Casting and finishing the bronze statue would take about four
months.All that stood in the way was
the approval of the committee.“Sculptor
Keyser will adopt whatever suggestions as to minor changes in the details of
the figure are made by members of the committee, and the statue will then be
cast in bronze.”

Perhaps Keyser’s downfall was his over-the-top design of the
base.“There was a large circular foundation,
and in front of the statue of Arthur were two female figures, one on either
side, bearing aloft a globe meant to inclose a lamp or an electric light,” said
The New York Times.

The work on the statue went ahead and on December 26, 1892
it was exhibited in the foundry of Henry Bonnard Bronze Company at No. 430 West
16th Street.“The statue is
nine feet two inches high and the weight is 1,800 pounds,” reported The Evening
World the following day.“It has been
cast in one piece with the exception of the plinth.”

The statue was intended to be erected in the traffic circle
at Central Park, at Fifth Avenue and 59th Streets.The Park Commissioners visited the foundry on
January 13, 1892 and were far less pleased than the statue committee.

“We have looked carefully over the statue of the late President
Arthur, and we are compelled to report that the work is, in our opinion, not
equal to the average of the sculpture in the Park, and therefore cannot
recommend it to the Park Board.We
recommend that an effort be made to raise [the] standard of accepted work
hereafter.”

Keyser received the news and commented “It must be pretty
bad, if it is as bad as that.”

Exactly one month later, on February 13, 1893, The Sun
chimed in on the side of the Park Commissioners.“The rejection of the Arthur statue is, or
should be, the beginning of a new era in the administration of park affairs—an era
of discrimination, judgment, and good taste in all that concerns public art.”

On June 10, 1899, six years after the statue was rejected,
the New-York Tribune wrote “So little noise was made over the work that it sank
out of the sight of the general public, and no doubt many persons will be
surprised to hear that the statue will be unveiled in Madison Square next
Tuesday afternoon.”

The newspaper made no mention of the sculpture’s critical
failure, or that in the meantime the committee had commissioned George Edwin
Bissell to start from scratch.Somewhat
surprisingly, the now-acceptable work by Bissell was a near copy of Keyser’s
statue.Even the hand-held eyeglasses
carried over to the new design.The
chair behind the figure “is a fac-simile of one he used when in the White
House,” reported the Tribune.

The monument was unveiled on June 13, 1899.It was a rather understated affair
considering the prominence of the honoree.“The ceremony attending the unveiling was brief,” reported The Sun the
next day.“Two or three hundred invited
guests sat in the chairs placed around the platform which was erected in front
of the statue.”

The most noticeable difference between the Keyser monument
and the completed Bissell design was the base, designed by esteemed architect
James Brown Lord.The New-York Tribune
described the restrained pedestal as “of polished Quincy granite, eight feet
high, surmounted by a plinth one foot high.The general aspect is one of repose and dignity, and in conformity with
the effort which has been made in this direction is the simple inscription
which will [appears] on the pedestal: Chester Alan Arthur.Twenty-first President of the United States
of America.”

Not long after the unveiling, vandals climbed the statue and
removed the bronze eyeglasses of the President.George E. Bissell recast the spectacles and these, too, were promptly
stolen.They lasted until April 1912.

Bissell told The New York Times “A third pair of rims were
then modeled and cast in bronze, and these were placed securely in the hand,
and now these have been stolen, making the hand an enigma as to its pose.”

The Times agreed, saying “The fact that something is missing
about the statue is plain to any one.In
his left hand the President holds a half open book, while the position of the
right and the way the fingers are held indicates the article which is missing.”

Bissell, whom The New York Times referred to as “the
venerable sculptor,” was annoyed.“He
suggests that it might be a good thing to have policemen watch the city statues
at night, if no other way can be found of protecting them from those whom the
police now call ‘the statue thieves,’” reported the newspaper on April 5, 1912.

More than a century after Chester A. Arthur’s bronze
likeness lost its third pair of eyeglasses his right hand remains empty. Apparently the President will never get a fourth pair.